Staving Off the Silence
by Story Please
Summary: Hermione has an odd ritual before she goes to bed each night, but this is the first time that Severus notices it. Will it be enough to cause a rift between them?


**Staving Off the Silence**

"I cannot hold my tongue any longer. Do I...snore?"

"Huh?" Hermione paused with her essential bedtime object in her hands.

"Those...earmuffs. Do you...require them to block out the sound of my terrible, wall-shattering snoring?" Severus stared at her, trying to see if she'd go for the easy lie or the brutal truth.

Understanding dawned on Hermione's face and she looked at the object and back at him.

And then she laughed.

Immediately, Severus scowled, his anger creeping up his back until pulled himself up as tall as he was able, looming over her. "I see no reason for you to make fun of me for asking."

Hermione caught her breath and shook her head. "Severus, I'm not laughing at _you_."

Severus snorted. "I see no one else in this room other than Crookshanks, and he has been dozing for hours."

"These are not earmuffs, Severus," Hermione replied, handing them out to him. "Go on, take them."

Severus scowled at the earmuffs as though their very existence insulted him, but he took them from her and inspected them anyway.

"They have some blue lights on either side, but other than that, they appear to be the same as the earmuffs we wear in the greenhouse during mandrake harvesting season," Severus remarked dryly.

"Just try them on, and I'll show you," Hermione replied with a weary sigh.

"Are you mad? They're far too small. They won't fit my head," Severus replied.

Hermione gestured for him to give them back to her, then, when he did, she motioned for him to sit down on the bed. "Here. I'll do it for you. I promise, it won't hurt."

Severus sat down, his face still full of suspicion. "This had better not be a trick."

Hermione rolled her eyes and then stood, pressing his legs apart so that she could sidle up face-to-face with him. "What if it was an extremely _sexy_ trick?" she purred softly against his lips.

Severus let out a surprised noise as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his face forward into her cleavage. Simultaneously, he could feel her hands slipping the odd Muggle earmuffs over his ears. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead and then helped him back up, but not before he got a good nuzzle in. Though he'd never admit it aloud, he had to admit, it had been a very sexy trick.

Hermione said something, but the earmuffs blocked out most of the sound. She pointed to something small and rectangular that seemed to have a lighted screen to it.

"What is it?" Severus asked, shaking his head slightly as he could only hear a muffled sound of his own voice.

Hermione shook her head and put her finger to her lips. Then she pointed at the screen. When Severus squinted at it, he could see the album art from...

"What magic is this?" Severus breathed as Hermione pushed a button on the screen.

Immediately, Severus could hear the sound of wailing guitars as Jimi Hendrix began to play "Purple Haze."

"It's...beautiful," he said, after the song was done. He slipped the earmuffs off of his head and handed them back to Hermione in an almost reverent fashion.

"They're bluetooth headphones," Hermione said shyly. "It's really not about you at all, Severus, honest. It's just...I have trouble falling asleep when it's quiet. My mind immediately pulls me awake at the slightest noise. It never used to be an issue before, but after being on the run for months in the woods, constantly afraid that we'd be set upon by murderous wizards...or worse..."

Hermione looked up, her eyes blurring with tears, just in time for her to see Severus reaching out to gather her tightly into his arms. He kissed the top of her head and smiled into her hair.

"Please don't be mad at me, Severus...for not saying anything before," Hermione said, her voice choked up with unshed tears.

"I only wish that you had told me sooner," he said softly. "I don't want you to feel like you have to hide things from me. I know more than most about how it feels to be like you have to bottle it all inside. You shall never have to do it with me. _Please_...believe me."

"Oh, look at us," Hermione sniffed, pulling away from him just enough to look up at his tired expression. "Aren't we being silly?"

"The silliest ever," Severus replied with a smirk. "Now, then, you shall have to tell me where you got them as well as the little music player thingy you have, for I have decided that I too need them, and I should hate for yours to _somehow_ end up in my slimy clutches."

Hermione swatted his arm playfully. "Well, we wouldn't want that."

"No, indeed," Severus replied, pulling her flush against his body. "Now, then, it's not _quite_ bedtime, is it?"

"I suppose not," Hermione replied, reaching up to slide her fingers under his chin as he angled his face down to kiss her.

The headphones and ipod were left abandoned on the side table as they found another way to keep the silence from encroaching on them.


End file.
